The move comes days after Abbott signed an executive order directing state health agencies to begin collecting data on how much undocumented immigrants cost public hospitals.  

That executive order, the Houston Chronicle editorial board writes, not only will "exacerbate the fear in immigrant communities, it may cost lives if it keeps people away from hospitals and clinics. It could even, perhaps ironically, cost more money." 

Now to some of the helpers: California nonprofit Border Kindness is helping prevent migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border by delivering weekly water drops and other lifesaving supplies, reports Alexandra Rangel for Arizona’s Family.  

"Everything we do out here is to try and prevent one death," said Border Kindness volunteer Luis Osuna. "Because one death means the world to someone’s family members, to someone’s kids." 

Meanwhile, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi writes in The Guardian that leaders must handle immigration challenges "in a fair, legal, effective way, which both relieves pressure on asylum systems and can win public confidence" — and makes suggestions. 

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s strategic communications VP, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Joanna Taylor, Darika Verdugo and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected]. 

EMBRACING NEWCOMERS — Immigration to Springfield, Ohio, is in the spotlight in the national conversation, reports Jasmine Garsd of NPR. Locally, politicians have experienced benefits as well as challenges as immigrant populations have increased. Jamie McGregor, CEO of McGregor Metal in Springfield, is embracing newcomers: "I think this whole notion of migrants taking American jobs is hogwash. That's spoken like a true person that has never made a payroll or tried to, you know, run a business." 

POTENTIAL DETAILS — Former President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations is "a promise with no nuance," Nicholas Dale Leal writes in El País. As the "how" and "how many" remain vague, he points to one place with potential details: the 34-page immigration section of Project 2025. Leal writes, "The mass deportations would begin, according to the text, with raids not only in homes and workplaces, but also in places where immigration agents have previously been prohibited from entering: the so-called "sensitive zones," such as schools, hospitals, churches and courts." 

INVESTIGATION — The Washington State Department of Health is suing GEO Group, the private contractor running an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, reports Dahlia Bazzaz of The Seattle Times. The department says it has claims it has not been allowed in to inspect living conditions and has received more than 700 health complaints since April 2023.  

CHILDREN — Stricter background checks, better data collection and transparency are three of the solutions former U.S. Army Captain Jason Piccolo proposes to protect unaccompanied migrant children from being placed with inadequately vetted sponsors. In Newsweek, Piccolo, also a retired federal agent, writes that "the silence surrounding this crisis must be broken, and action must be taken now. These children — scared, alone, and far from home — count on us. We must not let them down." 

Thanks for reading, 

Dan 

P.S. "To restore order and reduce illegality, we must create a functional and more generous system of legal immigration," Jorge Loweree of the American Immigration Council writes in an op-ed for The New York Times. "It is critical if we truly want to create a system that reflects our collective values: fair, fast and just."